Nitish asks govt to declare Bihar backward state, seeks tax relief

Asserting that Bihar deserved ‘‘special treatment’’ in view of the ills that have plagued the state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today urged the Centre to declare it ‘‘a backward state’’ and extend all-possible tax relief to it.

‘‘Bihar deserves special treatment in view of the ills that have plagued it. The Centre should declare it a backward state and extend all-possible tax relief,’’ Kumar told reporters at his Assembly chamber. Stating that the Centre had covered only 15 of 38 districts under the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and also to carry out the food for work programme, he said, taking into account large-scale exodus of ‘‘unskilled’’ labourers, all the districts of the state should have been covered under the scheme. ‘‘If all the districts are covered, the large-scale migration of labourers to other states will be effectively checked,’’ Kumar said.

The CM said that he had taken up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the issue of covering all the districts in the state under the Employment Guarantee Scheme and its effective implementation. He said the state required ‘‘special treatment’’ as it was facing ‘‘multi-faceted’’ problems in view of the growing Naxal activities, unemployment and poverty as also keeping in mind its boundary with Nepal.

‘‘I am in constant touch with the Centre for it,’’ he disclosed and said the state be placed in the list of other backward states declared by the Centre as similar situations existed here.